During their plenary session, MEPs largely approved (558 votes for, 71 votes against, 48 abstentions) the inter-institutional agreement between the former Estonian Presidency of the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament from 30 November last (see EUROPE 11916) on reform of the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) statutes.
This agreement introduces new aviation safety requirements but one of the key points also includes the obligation of registering certain recreational drones. This will mean that once the regulation has officially entered into force, customers will have to register their drones if their kinetic energy is above or equal to 80 J. This point was debated at great length during the inter-institutional negotiations (trialogues) between the Council and Parliament.
Marian-Jean Marinescu (EPP, Romania), the rapporteur on this dossier in Parliament stated in this connection that "European certification and registration for certain types of drones is the responsible thing to do".
Parliament's transport committee had already given the green light for this agreement last January (see EUROPE 11945) and the result of this vote did not leave much doubt about the matter. Although the Committee of Permanent Representatives to the EU (‘Coreper’) has also approved it (see EUROPE 11932), a formal decision from the Council still needs to be taken before the entry into force of the new text. (Original version in French by Lucas Tripoteau)